dumbfoundry

George Herbert scholarship has so far overlooked the fact that in “Prayer (I)” the poet advises the reader to “point east”. “Love (III)” alludes to the Eucharist and advocates a “daily table”. Herbert’s “Divinity” celebrates the mysteries of the cabala, while his poem “Misery” concludes, “HAA HAA”. If these readings appear strange and unfamiliar, they derive from reading Herbert in a strange and unfamiliar way: vertically. Herbert’s much-admired collection of religious verse, The Temple, published in 1633, contains innumerable acrostics and anagrams, discoverable by reading the first letter of each line down the left-hand column of text. [...]

This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy on Friday, December 09, 2005 at 2:21 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.